tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74861020156528921662018-08-13T12:48:58.817+01:00DaftNotStupid<p><small><small><strong>Daft</strong>: 1 a : SILLY, FOOLISH
<br><strong>Stupid</strong>: 1 a : slow of mind : OBTUSE b : given to unintelligent decisions or acts : acting in an unintelligent or careless manner c : lacking intelligence or reason : BRUTISH
2 : dulled in feeling or sensation : TORPID (still stupid from the sedative)
3 : marked by or resulting from unreasoned thinking or acting :</small></small>DaftNotStupidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243127396108361624noreply@blogger.comBlogger99125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7486102015652892166.post-39874035793999476832017-07-23T13:25:00.003+01:002017-07-23T13:43:07.050+01:00Essaouira Gnaoua and World Music Festival 2017It's been five years since my wife, <a href="http://maggieknutson.com/" target="_blank">Maggie Knutson</a>, and I were last in Essaouira for its world-renowned Gnaoua and World Music Festival, but this year we were back again, to enjoy and record the music that we both love so much. We had high expectations for this year's event - Band of Gnawa and Maalem Abdeslam Alikane with Ray Lema, both on the bill again after 10 years - and we weren't disappointed.<br /><br />I'll leave it to Maggie to provide all of the little details that she's so good at capturing in words - you can read the first of her multi-part blog entry <a href="http://maggieknutson.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/the-essaouira-gnaoua-and-world-music.html" target="_blank">here</a>. I'll use his blog to share the videos and photos that I took.<br /><br />We've been attending the festival since 2000, but I only started recording the music in 2007, after I found that I needed a way to preserve the unique music that had filled my head for the four days of the festival, but the memory of which decayed in the days and weeks after I'd returned home. I started with a Zoom digital audio recorded and an ATR shotgun microphone, and captured much of what, in my opinion, was the best festival ever. You can listen to those recordings <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3C29F6DAD037B96B" target="_blank">here</a>. Note that while they are YouTube videos, they are audio only.<br /><br />The next year I came better prepared with a Panasonic GS1 &nbsp;camcorder that worked really well and produced pretty good 720p videos, though being tape-based it meant my luggage was full of blank tapes and spare batteries and chargers. All of my videos from 2008 to 2012 were taken using my GS1, though I added a Rode M3 mic in 2012.<br /><br />This year, however, I decided to upgrade my camera and bought a fully digital Panasonic HC-V770, which with a 128GB class 10 SD card can record up to 6 hours - enough for a good days shooting. I was able to back each day's videos directly from the camera to a 480 GB SanDisk Extreme 500 solid-state hard drive, so I has plenty of space. If you wonder why I need so much space, the V770 records MP4 videos at 50Mb per second - about 22GB each hour. The V770 battery life is about 90 minutes, so instead of buying loads of spare batteries at £120 each, I bought a £30 Gomadic portable USB power pack which lasts about 6 hours, and can also charge my iPhone. Oh yes, this camera can also take pretty good still photographs while simultaneously shooting movies, as you can see when the Flickr slideshow below kicks off in a few seconds:<br /><br /><br /><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/95908774@N04/albums/72157686652067005" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Essaouira Gnaoua and World Music Festival 2017"><img alt="Essaouira Gnaoua and World Music Festival 2017" height="360" src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4318/35972526871_7992f837fd_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br /><br />In 2010, the festival organisers wrote to me suggesting I apply for press accreditation, which that year, and the next two years, we received, along with the precious <i>Camera </i>logo which gets you into the press pit right at the front of the stage!<br /><br />In past years, I had always recorded gonzo-style - right in with the main audience, or from our private balcony at Hotel L'Heure Bleu (rooms 24/34) overlooking Place Bab Marrakech, until 2011 one of the main festival venues, or from Restaurant Bab Lachour, overlooking the Place Moulay Hassan stage. Both of these approaches have their drawbacks. Gonzo puts you at the mercy of the audience, which results in shaky video and voices over the music. Audio recording at distance from the balconies adds a phasing effect from the ever-present wind.<br /><br />But in the photographers' pit you are so close and you get the real sound of the instruments as well as that from the on-stage monitors - not just the big PA. Fantastic, and such an experience being so close to the musicians and dancers.<br /><br />This year, however, it wasn't to be. I'd applied for Maggie and myself in good time but heard nothing until a week before the festival, when we received rejection letters; the reason given was that we didn't have official press passes. When we spoke to one of the team in Essaouira, we were told that since so many applications had been made for this, the 20th, festival, they'd needed some simple criterion to winnow out the chaff. So that's what we were: chaff. Over 1 million views on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/DaftNotStupid/" target="_blank">my YouTube channel</a> counted for nothing. But I'm not bitter. There's always next year.<br /><br />All was not lost, though. On the Thursday that the festival was due to start, I spotted Loy Ehrlich from Band of Gnawa in the street, introduced myself, and gave him a CD of the BoG set I'd recorded in 2007, along with a few others. He immediately dug into his bag and gave me a VIP pass - not for the press pit - but almost as good. Not only that, but when he saw me later that night, he gave Maggie one too. So, a big thank you to <b>Loy&nbsp;Ehrlich</b>. A great musician with a heart of gold.<br /><br />Enough of the talk. How about some music. Speaking of Loy Ehrlich, let's start with the playlist of the Band of Gnawa set. This starts with three numbers from Maalem Said Boulhimas, before BoG join in. You can click the playlist icon at the top left of the video to select a different video.<br /><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLpEpa0QU8exlTuAy9ROxp_ARzXPUIDqhg" width="560"></iframe> <br /><br />The highlight of the festival, for me, Maggie, and some other people I spoke to was the Titi Robin set at Place Moulay Hassan on Saturday night. Titi Robin (guitar and electric mandolin) was joined by&nbsp;Mehdi Nassouli (guembri and vocals), Shuheb Hasan (Sufi vocals), Murad Ali Khan (sarangi), and Ze Luis Nascimento (hand drums) delivering a wonderfully melodic fusion of &nbsp;the music of four continents. You can get some sense of the experience in the video playlist below. Note that a couple of the tracks have a pronounced bass distortion (my bad) but I believe that the music still shines through. If you like this music, you may want to buy the CD <b>Taziri</b>, featuring Robin, Nassouli, and Nasciemento, available on Amazon <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Taziri-Titi-Robin-Mehdi-Nassouli/dp/B00UY6Y5SS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1500808431&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=taziri" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLpEpa0QU8exlj-wIsJnKJqo3uc8NzlRuK" width="560"></iframe> <br /><br />At the end of the Titi Robin set Maggie and I headed over to La Plage venue, by way of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FWch0eEs4w" target="_blank">Sam's Fish&nbsp;</a><br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FWch0eEs4w" target="_blank">Restaurant</a> to see &nbsp;Maalem Abdeslam Alikane and Ray Lema. When we arrived, Speed Caravan were still playing and I managed to video their last three numbers, including one with the wonderful, and new to me, Hindi Zahra. Here's that playlist:<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLpEpa0QU8exkVUVOd-gEqKedJe0VVJfR_" width="560"></iframe> <br />As for the Alikane/Lema set, I was told to stop filming with my V770 after the first number, but I managed to capture most of the other numbers on my iPhone SE (with a Rode VideoMicro mic) or on my Zoom H2 audio recorder which was tucked in an inside jacket pocket. Consequnetly, the video quality isn't great so I have't got a separate playlist for this set yet, but you can find a couple of the videos in my Essaouira 2017 playlist, along with&nbsp;Maâlem Abdelkebir Merchane, Carlinhos Brown, some street music, and a couple of walks. 28 videos in total, with more to come, including more from Alikane/Lema. If you subscribe to the playlist or the channel on YouTube, you'll get notified when I add more.<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLpEpa0QU8exlkTD072bgVlk_Uwqqv6VOG" width="560"></iframe>DaftNotStupidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243127396108361624noreply@blogger.com3http://daftnotstupid.blogspot.com/2017/07/essaouira-gnaoua-and-world-music.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7486102015652892166.post-60381196032991809032015-10-30T12:17:00.001+00:002015-11-01T02:06:17.892+00:00#SOBERCOLLECTIVE at Original Dampkring GalleryIf you're in Amsterdam before 6 December, you should take the time to visit the #SOBERCOLLECTIVE exhibition at the new <a href="http://www.dampkringgallery.com/">Original Dampkring Gallery</a> (of certain repute). The chameleon is iconic, marrying the photo-realistic colouring of the Telmoniel artists with the algorithmic precision and dexterity of the Sober Industries team. The combination of 2D and 3D in some of the pieces works really well, giving the impression of an outside/inside view of the same subject. <p>The huge cat appears to stalk the room. The hand, in Vulcan pose, suddenly appears other-worldly. The 'wheel thing' is hand-drawn, and, like the other paper sculptures, laser-cut. I wish that I'd taken a closeup The chameleon is probably my favourite piece - not surprisingly, it's the one featured on the promotional material for the exhibition. The crab runs a close second, maybe because of my birthday - I'm a Cancer. <p>These are my photographs from the Sober Industries & Telmoniel / #SOBERCOLLECTIVE exhibition - 16 October to 6 December 2015 at the Original Dampkring Gallery at Singel 395, Amsterdam, Netherlands, but copyright remains with the artists. <p>Here's a <a href="https://flic.kr/s/aHskog556C">link </a> to these higher-definition images on Flickr. The slideshow will be revealed in a few seconds. I've also uploaded them to Slideshare <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/DaftNotStupid/sobercollective">here</a>. <iframe src="//www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/key/zPS9hb9ahglaXt" width="425" height="355" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" style="border:1px solid #CCC; border-width:1px; margin-bottom:5px; max-width: 100%;" allowfullscreen> </iframe> <div style="margin-bottom:5px"> <strong> <a href="//www.slideshare.net/DaftNotStupid/sobercollective" title="#Sobercollective" target="_blank">#Sobercollective</a> </strong> from <strong><a href="//www.slideshare.net/DaftNotStupid" target="_blank">John Knutson</a></strong> </div> <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/12108286@N06/albums/72157658205232784" title="#SOBERCOLLECTIVE at Original Dampkring Gallery"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/707/22577982516_3b138e3a67_z.jpg" width="600" alt="#SOBERCOLLECTIVE at Original Dampkring Gallery"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <p>Below you'll find embedded my Facebook photo gallery of the event <div id="fb-root"></div><script>(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_GB/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));</script><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153750895753556.1073741827.527478555&amp;type=3" data-width="500"><div class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore"><blockquote cite="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153750895753556.1073741827.527478555&amp;type=3"><p>Photographs from the Sober Industries &amp; Telmoniel / #SOBERCOLLECTIVE exhibition - 16 October to 6 December 2015 at the Original Dampkring Gallery at Singel 395, Amsterdam, Netherlands.</p>Posted by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DaftNotStupid">John Knutson</a> on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153750895753556.1073741827.527478555&amp;type=3">Wednesday, 28 October 2015</a></blockquote></div></div>DaftNotStupidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243127396108361624noreply@blogger.com1http://daftnotstupid.blogspot.com/2015/10/sobercollective.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7486102015652892166.post-28595857945410483372013-05-18T13:38:00.002+01:002013-05-18T14:06:04.589+01:00Morocco 1972Here are some photographs that I took on my first trip to Morocco in the summer of 1972.<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nTZRNdIwPzI/UZdzZxXLFrI/AAAAAAAAARg/ctlA4ASY060/s1600/P1070021.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nTZRNdIwPzI/UZdzZxXLFrI/AAAAAAAAARg/ctlA4ASY060/s400/P1070021.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Heading up to Ketama in the Rif mountains</b></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zIcew7ZPGd4/UZdzRogzZ1I/AAAAAAAAAQY/N1f0VCmZ-lM/s1600/P1070012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zIcew7ZPGd4/UZdzRogzZ1I/AAAAAAAAAQY/N1f0VCmZ-lM/s400/P1070012.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Crops in the Rif</b></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UPk1_1MGAbY/UZdzSl_A-II/AAAAAAAAAQg/32WiDa2xkwI/s1600/P1070013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UPk1_1MGAbY/UZdzSl_A-II/AAAAAAAAAQg/32WiDa2xkwI/s400/P1070013.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Crops in the Rif</b></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-veIvZIB3AQw/UZdzT_7ImRI/AAAAAAAAAQw/FvOUQQ9tork/s1600/P1070015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-veIvZIB3AQw/UZdzT_7ImRI/AAAAAAAAAQw/FvOUQQ9tork/s400/P1070015.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Djemma El Fna, Marrakech</b></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dhIAnb2zsd8/UZdzVhhwFUI/AAAAAAAAAQ4/bKGUyBV_8nQ/s1600/P1070016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dhIAnb2zsd8/UZdzVhhwFUI/AAAAAAAAAQ4/bKGUyBV_8nQ/s400/P1070016.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Cindy with her VW bus, campsite,&nbsp;Marrakech</b></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Euna9_PWMWo/UZdzWZ5L1PI/AAAAAAAAARE/KvKthAcoaAY/s1600/P1070017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Euna9_PWMWo/UZdzWZ5L1PI/AAAAAAAAARE/KvKthAcoaAY/s640/P1070017.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Cindy, Marrakech</b></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HAUJuIG1h_M/UZdzWuHhptI/AAAAAAAAARA/3i5KZbV6o1U/s1600/P1070018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HAUJuIG1h_M/UZdzWuHhptI/AAAAAAAAARA/3i5KZbV6o1U/s400/P1070018.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Man in djellabah, Marrakech</b></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PgpyUSmplj0/UZdzX6RCEVI/AAAAAAAAARQ/DL-a8H7KYcE/s1600/P1070019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PgpyUSmplj0/UZdzX6RCEVI/AAAAAAAAARQ/DL-a8H7KYcE/s400/P1070019.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Koutoubia, Marrakech</b></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tUZC-AvJhU8/UZd7rup108I/AAAAAAAAAR4/1t8nIyoRjdQ/s1600/P1070024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tUZC-AvJhU8/UZd7rup108I/AAAAAAAAAR4/1t8nIyoRjdQ/s640/P1070024.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Water sellers, Djemma El Fna, Marrakech</b></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ycZEabV6TRU/UZd7rDabe6I/AAAAAAAAAR8/HWCeHhCqsTI/s1600/P1070023.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ycZEabV6TRU/UZd7rDabe6I/AAAAAAAAAR8/HWCeHhCqsTI/s400/P1070023.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Diabet</b></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RN3sDRPLOcc/UZd7qMVOQKI/AAAAAAAAARw/v0iE7OAWkg0/s1600/P1070022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RN3sDRPLOcc/UZd7qMVOQKI/AAAAAAAAARw/v0iE7OAWkg0/s640/P1070022.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Sunset, Diabet</b></td></tr></tbody></table>Photographs taken with Zenith E using Kodacolor-X film.<br /><br />DaftNotStupidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243127396108361624noreply@blogger.com1Morocco31.791702 -7.092620000000010818.054985000000002 -27.74691700000001 45.528419 13.561676999999989http://daftnotstupid.blogspot.com/2013/05/morocco-1972.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7486102015652892166.post-90666577693763091482013-05-11T12:19:00.001+01:002013-07-29T00:42:54.570+01:00IBM Social Media Aggregator<head><script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/dojo/1.6.0/dojo/dojo.xd.js" type="text/javascript">//</script> </head> This post shows an example of embedding widgets from the IBM Social Media Aggregator. <script type="text/javascript" src="https://www-304.ibm.com:443/social/aggregator/cics/esma?customConfig=%7B%22feed%22:%7B%22tweets%22:true,%22blogs%22:true,%22photos%22:false,%22videos%22:true%7D,%22height%22:%22500%22,%22width%22:%22300%22,%22showAvatars%22:true,%22title%22:%22IBM%2520CICS%2520Social%2520Media%2520Aggregator%22,%22hideHeader%22:false,%22footerTitle%22:%22CICS%2520SMA%2520Site%22,%22hideFooter%22:false,%22nodeId%22:%2288_esma_1375054713672%22%7D"></script><div id="88_esma_1375054713672"></div>DaftNotStupidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243127396108361624noreply@blogger.com1http://daftnotstupid.blogspot.com/2013/05/blog-post.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7486102015652892166.post-23212532666131299632013-04-27T13:44:00.002+01:002013-04-27T16:38:34.143+01:00Essaouira Gnaoua and World Music Festival 2013<a href="http://www.festival-gnaoua.net/site_media/images/logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="http://www.festival-gnaoua.net/site_media/photos/header2013.jpg.288x156_q85_crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="215" src="http://www.festival-gnaoua.net/site_media/photos/header2013.jpg.288x156_q85_crop.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />I saw yesterday that they have posted the line-up for this year's Essaouira Gnaoua and World Music Festival. You can find it here: <a class="twitter-timeline-link" data-expanded-url="http://bit.ly/programme2013" dir="ltr" href="http://t.co/dBif194OPN" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="http://bit.ly/programme2013"><span class="invisible">http://</span><span class="js-display-url">bit.ly/programme2013</span><span class="tco-ellipsis"><span class="invisible">&nbsp;</span></span></a> and the festival's site is here: <a href="http://www.festival-gnaoua.net/en/" target="_blank">http://www.festival-gnaoua.net/en/</a><br /><br />Maggie and I won't be going this year. This will be the first one we've missed since I started recording in 2007. In fact the last one we missed was in 2004. This year's line-up looks pretty traditional with surprisingly few sub-Saharan artists, apart of course from the wonderful Yousou N'Dour, who'll be performing at Scene Meditel on the Saturday.<br /><br />It was a short clip I took of Yousou N'Dour when he last played there in 2005 that made me start recording and then filming in the first place. We'll be very sorry to miss him this year, but we can always look back on this:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/7aRVf6MfdJk?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0' /></div><br />That was when Place Bab Marrakech was stil being used. It was a great venue. We were staying in the Hotel L'Heure Bleu, it might have been our first time there and we didn't get the suite with the balcony overlooking the stage until 2007. I took the video above from the roof of the hotel using a little Sony Sureshot - just thought about it just before the end - and didn't post it until 2007 when I started recording audio. 2007, that was a truly great year - perhaps the best since we first went in 1999 or 2000.<br /><br /><br />DaftNotStupidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243127396108361624noreply@blogger.com1http://daftnotstupid.blogspot.com/2013/04/essaouira-gnaoua-and-world-music.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7486102015652892166.post-10383389906253365982013-04-21T14:33:00.000+01:002013-06-07T09:54:26.825+01:00Blogger good at stopping spam comments <br /><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="width: 642px;"> <colgroup><col width="638"></col> </colgroup><tbody><tr> <td valign="TOP" width="638"><div align="LEFT" style="border: none; padding: 0cm;"></div><b><span style="font-size: 12px;">Update 8 June 2013</span></b><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 12px;">Oh you guys! 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Learn from other people's mistakes and experiences rather than destroying your own skills and wasting your time on</span></li></ul></td></tr></tbody></table>DaftNotStupidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243127396108361624noreply@blogger.com1http://daftnotstupid.blogspot.com/2013/02/blogger-good-at-stopping-spam-comments.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7486102015652892166.post-74558006386048112742013-01-24T01:13:00.002+00:002013-01-24T01:38:26.422+00:00CICS on Facebook<br /><div class="fb-like" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/IBMCICS?ref=hl" data-send="true" data-show-faces="true" data-width="450"></div>DaftNotStupidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243127396108361624noreply@blogger.com1http://daftnotstupid.blogspot.com/2013/01/cics.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7486102015652892166.post-84596458757062831722012-06-28T18:21:00.000+01:002012-06-28T18:21:13.220+01:00Essaouira Gnaoua and World Music Festival - June 21-24 2012<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5SQknZc6gts/T6m5b4qAmZI/AAAAAAAAAMA/SURfK9Y63tc/s1600/Gnaoua_15_ans.jpg.960x351_q85_crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5SQknZc6gts/T6m5b4qAmZI/AAAAAAAAAMA/SURfK9Y63tc/s640/Gnaoua_15_ans.jpg.960x351_q85_crop.jpg" width="640" />&nbsp;</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Updated&nbsp; 28th June 2012</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Maggie and got back home on Tuesday, and as of today, I've posted three videos from the Omar Hyat concert to YouTube. I've added a plylist below, which wil grow in the weeks and months to come. I'll write something later. Enjoy!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PL4CFD079C57F0FEAF&amp;hl=en_US" width="640"></iframe><br /><br />They published the dates for the 15th Essaouira Gnaoua and World Music Festival - June 21-24 2012 - shortly after the 2011 festival ended, so I've waited till now to start this post on the 2012 festival. Earlier today, the organisers held a twit-fest in conjunction with a press conference, when they announced the artists who will be performing this year. The program itself has not yet been published, but they have declared which venues will be used - the same as last year (unfortunately, Place Bab Marrakech will still just be used as a car park. Funny thing is, when I first arrived in Essaouira, back in 1972, we parked our van on some rough ground just outside the Marrakech gate - plus ca change - as they say).<br /><br />As last year, the two main venues are Place Moulay Hassan and Scene Meditel, on the beach. While it's still largely a free festival, you can buy a “4 day pass” or a “1 day pass” gives access to room in front of the stage at the two major Festival venues. You also have to pay to get into the intimate music sessions at Zaouia Sidna Bilal, Dar Souri, and Bastion Bab Marrakech. Most of these events cost 100 Dirhams.<br /><br />Anyway, getting back to the festival, here's a list of the artists taken from the festival web-site <a href="http://www.festival-gnaoua.net/" target="_blank">http://www.festival-gnaoua.net/ </a>:<br /><ul><li><a href="http://www.festival-gnaoua.net/artiste/carlou-d/" target="_blank">Carlou D</a><span class="uppercase italic font13 bold"> (Senegal)</span></li><li><a href="http://www.festival-gnaoua.net/artiste/djembe-new-style/" target="_blank">Djembe New Style</a></li><li>Fareed Ayaz et Abu <span class="uppercase italic font13 bold">Mohamed (Pakistan)</span></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_2131927611">Hoba Hoba Spirit</a><span class="uppercase italic font13 bold"><a href="http://www.festival-gnaoua.net/artiste/hoba-hoba-spirit/" target="_blank"> </a>(Casablanca)</span></li><li>The Issaoua<span class="uppercase italic font13 bold"> Brotherhood (Essaouira)</span></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_2131927619">Maâlem Abdelkader Amlil</a><span class="uppercase italic font13 bold"><a href="http://www.festival-gnaoua.net/artiste/malem-abdelkader-amlil/" target="_blank"> </a>(Rabat)</span></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_2131927623">Maâlem Abdelkebir Merchane</a><span class="uppercase italic font13 bold"><a href="http://www.festival-gnaoua.net/artiste/maalem-abdelkebir-merchane/" target="_blank"> </a>(Marrakech)</span></li><li>Maâlem Abdellah Akharraz<span class="uppercase italic font13 bold"> (Essaouira)</span></li><li>Maâlem Abdelouahed Stitou<span class="uppercase italic font13 bold"> (Tanger)</span></li><li>Maâlem Abdenbi El Gadari<span class="uppercase italic font13 bold"> (Casablanca)</span></li><li>Maâlem Abdeslam Alikane &amp; ...<span class="uppercase italic font13 bold"> (Essaouira)</span></li><li>Maâlem Allal Soudani<span class="uppercase italic font13 bold"> (Essaouira)</span></li><li>Maâlem Hamid El Kasri<span class="uppercase italic font13 bold"> (Rabat)</span></li><li>Maâlem Hassan Boussou<span class="uppercase italic font13 bold"> (Casablanca)</span></li><li>Maâlem Mahjoub Khalmouss</li><li>Maâlem Mohamed Kouyou<span class="uppercase italic font13 bold"> (Marrakech)</span></li><li>Maâlem Mohamed Lebbat<span class="uppercase italic font13 bold"> (Marrakech)</span></li><li>Maalem Mahmoud Guinea <span class="uppercase italic font13 bold">(Essaouira)</span></li><li>Maâlem Mokhtar Guinea <span class="uppercase italic font13 bold">(Essaouira)</span></li><li>Maâlem Mustapha Bakbou<span class="uppercase italic font13 bold"> (Marrakech)</span></li><li>Maâlem Omar Hayat<span class="uppercase italic font13 bold"> (Essaouira)</span></li><li>Maâlem Rachid Fadli Ladhass<span class="uppercase italic font13 bold"> (Rabat)</span></li><li>Maâlem Saïd El Bourki<span class="uppercase italic font13 bold"></span></li><li>Maâlem Saïd Oughassal<span class="uppercase italic font13 bold"> (Casablanca)</span></li><li>Maâlem Saïd Tahlaoui<span class="uppercase italic font13 bold"> (Safi)</span></li><li>Mobydick<span class="uppercase italic font13 bold"></span></li><li>Musiciens de Bob Maghrib<span class="uppercase italic font13 bold"> (</span><span class="uppercase italic font13 bold"></span><span class="uppercase italic font13 bold">Morocco</span><span class="uppercase italic font13 bold">)</span></li><li>Musiciens de Mayara Band<span class="uppercase italic font13 bold"> (</span><span class="uppercase italic font13 bold">Morocco</span><span class="uppercase italic font13 bold">)</span></li><li>Nasser<span class="uppercase italic font13 bold"> (France)</span></li><li>Oumou Sangaré<span class="uppercase italic font13 bold"> (Mali)</span></li><li>Querencia<span class="uppercase italic font13 bold"></span></li><li>Soweto Kinch quartet with ...<span class="uppercase italic font13 bold"> (UK)</span></li><li>Sylvain Luc trio<span class="uppercase italic font13 bold"></span></li><li>Trio Joachim Kühn, Majid Bekkas, Ramon Lopez &amp; les Gnaoua de Salé <span class="uppercase italic font13 bold">(Germany/Morocco /Spain)</span></li></ul>My, it's tedious, copying and pasting all of these links, so, maybe I'll get around tgo finishing that later.<br /><br />So, what sounds good to me?<br /><br /><b>Fareed Ayaz et Abu </b><span class="uppercase italic font13 bold"><b>Mohamed </b>- Quawalli musicians from Pakistan should be good - I saw Mehr Ali and Sher Ali a few years ago, and they were superb. That was before I started to record and film at Essaouira, but I still have a pretty strong memory of them, so I have high hopes.</span><br /><div class="artiste_color paddingLeft15 top5"><br /></div><div class="artiste_color paddingLeft15 top5"><b>Oumou Sangaré </b>from <span class="uppercase italic font13 bold">Mali is the only woman to be billed this year - a pretty poor show, if you ask me. She's new to me, but she played here in 2003 - musically, one of my favourite years, so I'm looking forward to her.</span></div><div class="artiste_color paddingLeft15 top5"><span class="uppercase italic font13 bold"><br /></span></div><div class="artiste_color paddingLeft15 top5"><b>Musiciens de Bob Maghrib </b>promise a feast of gnaoua-inspired reggae (or maybe reggae-inspired gnaoua) that should awaken my inner rasta, so watch out, folks.</div><div class="artiste_color paddingLeft15 top5"><br /></div><div class="artiste_color paddingLeft15 top5"><b>Omar Hyatt </b>always puts on a great show, but what I really like about him is the way he grooves with jazz and rock musicians, so, I'm interested to see who he'll be playing with.</div><div class="artiste_color paddingLeft15 top5"><br /></div><div class="artiste_color paddingLeft15 top5"><b>Hassan Boussou </b>with <b>Nasser </b>and <b>MobyDick </b>will give us electro-rap-gnaoua which should be interesting. Rap's not my favourite, and French rap sounds even less appealing, but Boussou is not a man who makes bad music, so, I'm going to hang fire on my opinion - I'll let you all know how it turns out.</div><div class="artiste_color paddingLeft15 top5"><br /></div><div class="artiste_color paddingLeft15 top5">I'm quite excited about <b>Trio Joachim Kühn, Majid Bekkas, Ramon Lopez</b> &amp; <b>les Gnaoua de Salé </b>- Majid Bekkas plays a couple of numbers on my 2003 festival CD - Galou is one of my all-time favourites, so this set is a must for me.</div><div class="artiste_color paddingLeft15 top5"><br /></div><div class="artiste_color paddingLeft15 top5">Update: I'm very happy to say that though he wasn't listed originally on the web-site, the Press Dosier says that <b>Maalem Mahmoud Guinea </b>will be playing after all. Hurray! </div><div class="artiste_color paddingLeft15 top5"><br /></div><div class="artiste_color paddingLeft15 top5">I'll take a closer look at the line-up in the coming weeks and try to listen to some of the musicians who are new to me, but at first glance, it's looking good.</div>DaftNotStupidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243127396108361624noreply@blogger.com1http://daftnotstupid.blogspot.com/2012/04/essaouira-gnaoua-and-world-music.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7486102015652892166.post-32491559375556072162012-05-03T18:12:00.001+01:002012-05-04T00:50:07.292+01:00New Dutch Wietpas / Weed Pass - Much Worse Than I Thought!I was in Amsterdam yesterday and was told the gist of this by a well informed source. Everything he said is as described in the extract below, taken today from the Netherlands Government's website.<br />My source also said, but this is not confirmed, that an individual would only be able to register with a single coffee shop, preventing both socialising, and the ability to exercise choice as to where you would like to smoke at any given time of day.<br />A few years ago, they stopped you being able to buy alcohol in a coffee shop, which also prevented mixed groups of people who wanted to both drink and smoke from socialising in the same place.<br />My source also asserted that the new measures would push drugs back onto the streets, where sales would be uncontrolled, organized by local criminal gangs with power struggles likely to cause injury and even death.<br /><br />Not everyone who visits Amsterdam and other Dutch cities goes there to smoke. It's a wonderful place that you can enjoy in so many different ways. But all visitors will be effected by this, since the safe streets and canals that they enjoy walking along late into the night will not feel or be so safe any more.<br /><br />I've been visiting The Netherlands for over forty years and I've always loved the people and the country for their practical, pragmatic, and progressive attitude to life. I'm saddened by this move, but I hope that sense will prevail. Please support the opposition to these changes. If I find a focal point for that, I will append it here.<br /><br /><span lang="EN-GB">There's some good, independent commentary here: <br /></span><br /><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/05/01/netherlands-marijuana-amsterdam-tourists-law.html" target="_blank">http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/05/01/netherlands-marijuana-amsterdam-tourists-law.html&nbsp;</a></span><br /><br /><span lang="EN-GB">This links to a translation of the <a href="http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&amp;sl=nl&amp;u=http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wietpas&amp;ei=WBijT9i2K6j24QSEjIF5&amp;sa=X&amp;oi=translate&amp;ct=result&amp;resnum=1&amp;ved=0CDYQ7gEwAA&amp;prev=/search%3Fq%3Dwietpas%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DJr6%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26prmd%3Dimvnsufd" target="_blank">Wikipedia Weitpas page</a>, currently only available in the Dutch language.</span><br /><h2 style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"> <a href="http://www.government.nl/issues/alcohol-and-drugs/drugs/soft-drug-policy" target="_blank">http://www.government.nl/issues/alcohol-and-drugs/drugs/soft-drug-policy </a>&nbsp;</h2><h2 style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"> <span style="font-size: small;"></span></h2><h2 style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"> <span style="font-size: small;">Rules on coffee shops to be toughened up</span></h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><h2 style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"> <span style="font-size: small;"></span></h2><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"></span></b>The aim of drugs policy is to limit damage to public health and combat nuisance and crime. This policy is now being stepped up. <span lang="EN-GB"></span></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">The ‘open door’ policy currently pursued by coffee shops will come to an end. The objective is to combat the nuisance and crime associated with coffee shops and the trade in drugs. Coffee shops must become smaller and easier to control. Dutch drug policy needs to become less attractive to drug users from abroad. Coffee shops will be small, private clubs that focus on the local market.</span><span lang="EN-GB"> </span></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">In recent years the trade in drugs has grown in scale and has become more professional and commercial. In response to this, the approach to organised drug-related crime has been intensified. </span></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">In order to achieve government objectives, the rules on cannabis and coffee shops are being tightened up:</span></span></div><ul style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">coffee shops will become private clubs, with a maximum of 2,000 members; </span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">membership will be recorded in a membership list; </span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">the coffee shop will provide members with a membership card; </span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">only residents of the Netherlands aged 18 years or older will be eligible for membership; </span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">no coffee shop may be located within 350 metres of a school; </span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">from now on cannabis with a THC content of 15% or more will be classified as a hard drug. </span><span lang="EN-GB"></span></span></li></ul><h2 style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"> <span style="font-size: small;">Membership lists for coffeee shops</span></h2><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"></span></b><span lang="EN-GB">Coffee shops owners must maintain membership records. The cabinet expects that drug tourism and nuisance related to drugs will be managed better as a result of private coffee shops. The following rules apply to membership records:</span></span></div><ul style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">the applicant member must be older than 18 years of age and resident of the Netherlands. He has to prove that he fulfills those two criteria by producing a valid identification document and an extract from the Municipal Personal Records Database. The extract must be more recent than 4 weeks;</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">the membership must be longer than one year;&nbsp;</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">those who are not members may not enter the coffee shop; </span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">the maximum amount of members one coffees hop can have is&nbsp; 2000 . </span></span></li></ul><h2 style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"> <span style="font-size: small;">Membership card for coffee shops</span></h2><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"></span></b><span lang="EN-GB">The owner of the coffee shop has to make sure he only allows entry to members. Membership can be checked by a membership card (also referred to by the media as “wietpas” (weed card.) The owner of the coffee shop can also check who is a member and who is not. </span></span></div><h2 style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"> <span style="font-size: small;">Membership lists and membership card to be introduced gradually</span></h2><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">The new rules will be introduced gradually: </span></span></div><ul style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">the amendment of the toleration criteria (as specified in the Opium Act Instructions) will come into effect on 1 January 2012;</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">the new rules will come into effect in the following provinces on 1 May 2012: Limburg, North Brabant and Zeeland (with the exception of the rule on the maximum number of members);</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">municipalities in other provinces may also choose to introduce the new system as of this date;</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">as of 1 January 2013 all rules, including the maximum number of members, will apply throughout the Netherlands. </span></span></li></ul><h2 style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"> <span style="font-size: small;">Informing drug tourists</span></h2><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"></span></b>Non-residents of the Netherlands cannot become a member of a coffee shop and can therefore no longer use them. This will apply in the provinces Limburg, North Brabant and Zeeland as of 1 May 2012 and in the rest of the Netherlands as of 1 January 2013. Information on the new members’ system are be available at the website <a href="http://www.new-rules.eu/">www.new-rules.eu</a>.<span lang="EN-GB"></span></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">The site will also provide:</span></span></div><ul style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">information on the new rules in 4 languages (Dutch, English, French and German);</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">information on drug addiction, with details of addiction care in a range of European languages; </span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">information for municipalities introducing the system. (For instance on communication tools (including leaflets) that municipalities can utilize. This part of the site is only accessible for municipalities.</span></span></li></ul><h2 style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"> <span style="font-size: small;">Minimum distance between coffee shops and schools</span></h2><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">There will be a ban on locating coffee shops within 350 metres of secondary schools and secondary vocational institutions. The aim is to introduce this rule by 1 January 2014.</span></span></div><br />DaftNotStupidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243127396108361624noreply@blogger.com3http://daftnotstupid.blogspot.com/2012/05/new-dutch-wietpas-weed-pass-much-worse.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7486102015652892166.post-18175247719186349352012-03-24T01:11:00.001+00:002012-03-24T01:44:36.772+00:00Michan Mijsbergh 'Eat Your Heart Out' exhibition at the GO Gallery, AmsterdamI was lucky to be in Amsterdam last week and able to catch <strong>Eat Your Heart Out </strong>- Michan Mijsbergh's first solo exhibition at the Go Gallery. <span class="messageBody" data-ft="{&quot;type&quot;:3}">If you are anywhere near Amsterdam before the end of April, you must visit . I was blown away by this young man's (he's only 21) outstanding talent. Don't miss it. Here are some examples, from&nbsp;photographs I took there. Thanks to Oscar and Farud for being so gracious.</span><br /><br /><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{&quot;type&quot;:3}">You really should click on these photographs to see them full size - the detail is very fine. Sometimes you feel you are falling into the chasms of his creature's faces.</span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7DrndYNzu7c/T20exTikUfI/AAAAAAAAALY/ymD07ED2590/s1600/P1060455+Captain+Chimp+crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img aea="true" border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7DrndYNzu7c/T20exTikUfI/AAAAAAAAALY/ymD07ED2590/s640/P1060455+Captain+Chimp+crop.jpg" width="544" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-B3hxgu4kEHY/T20e4dq0ZtI/AAAAAAAAALg/FxdGA7RQHAc/s1600/P1060457+Captain+Chimp+detail+crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img aea="true" border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-B3hxgu4kEHY/T20e4dq0ZtI/AAAAAAAAALg/FxdGA7RQHAc/s640/P1060457+Captain+Chimp+detail+crop.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wHksXItbfNA/T20e7-q-jPI/AAAAAAAAALo/LNJrJgwOOaA/s1600/P1060447+Pinky+crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img aea="true" border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wHksXItbfNA/T20e7-q-jPI/AAAAAAAAALo/LNJrJgwOOaA/s640/P1060447+Pinky+crop.jpg" width="468" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x69rdtdYyPY/T20e_ql4IYI/AAAAAAAAALw/UUPfKDTs2h4/s1600/P1060460+Mercedes+crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img aea="true" border="0" height="460" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x69rdtdYyPY/T20e_ql4IYI/AAAAAAAAALw/UUPfKDTs2h4/s640/P1060460+Mercedes+crop.jpg" width="640" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4qiQDgmFXiE/T20my0TThnI/AAAAAAAAAL4/XRRgFiAHXIg/s1600/P1060458+Di+Loco.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img aea="true" border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4qiQDgmFXiE/T20my0TThnI/AAAAAAAAAL4/XRRgFiAHXIg/s640/P1060458+Di+Loco.jpg" width="486" /></a></div>DaftNotStupidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243127396108361624noreply@blogger.com1http://daftnotstupid.blogspot.com/2012/03/michan-mijsbergh-eat-your-heart-out.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7486102015652892166.post-12903263254327102352012-03-06T23:40:00.000+00:002012-03-06T23:40:04.858+00:00Don't bug me!How many times does software ask me this question and how many times does it take any fucking notice of what I tell it? Too many and too bloody few. Apple is probably the worst. Yes friends, Apple which is so 'user friendly'. The number of times I don't want to be told about any more iTune updates. Problem is, the option to say 'no more' is just a check box on a pop-up, and my guess is that when I press the X to quit the pop-up - there's no other way out that doesn't involve saying yes to the update - the check-box option is lost.<br /><br />Realplayer has a good variant of this. It produces a little pull-down menu with a list of time periods that it suggests you might want to to be reminded after. The first few times, it shows - and I'm remembering this, so may have it wrong - 1 day, 7 days, 4 weeks - something like that anyway. So, I select the longest period. Then in 4 weeks time, it asks me again - and this is the clever part - now it adds a new option - "Never remind me again". Great I think, I'll select that. What it should say is "Select never, you fool, because I think your memory is shorter than mine, so when I ask you again, you'll have forgotten that you ever said never. Foolish user."<br /><br />Thing is, I'm not just a poor old end user - that's what we call them in the software business - but I work for a major software company, and have been in the IT business for about 45 years - most of my working life. So, if this stuff pisses me off, how does the average user feel about it?<br /><br />I've just been rereading a great book - <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0672316498"><b>The lunatics are running the asylum</b></a>&nbsp; by Alan Cooper which I recommend to everyone, whether you are in the software business or not. The problems I mentioned up top are minor compared with some of the scenarios he lists in the book.<br /><br />My take is a little different to Cooper's. He seems to think that it's all because the programmers don't understand who their real users are - so they build software for super-geeks like themselves. Thing is, I'm a geek and I hate this stuff. I hate the way software treats me like fucking imbecile. I can only put it down to purposeful action. Companies want us to be in thrall to their systems. They want us to be fearful of their software.<br /><br />Hey, when we had real bank managers - rememeber them? - who you would go to see and ask for a loan or a mortgage, you'd be terrified. You'd dress up in you best suit and practice how you'd answer their questions. Now they just build their software to get you into the same state of terror. Will this transaction complete? Will I have to put all of the data in again? Why do they want to know that? Agh! Not sure if you sense the frustration in that. I considered recording a little audio clip, and attaching it, so that you could clickon it and you'd hear me vent all of it - all over your speakers. Not just 'Agh' but 'AAAAAAAGGGHHH', but, you know, life's too short.<br /><br />Anyway, next week, Maggie and I are off to Amsterdam for a little R&amp;R. It's been a while, and, as you can probably judge, I'm in need of a break.<br /><br />Tarra (that's ciao in Geordie)DaftNotStupidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243127396108361624noreply@blogger.com0http://daftnotstupid.blogspot.com/2012/03/dont-bug-me.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7486102015652892166.post-65618810384821680102011-10-10T23:56:00.000+01:002011-10-10T23:56:29.820+01:00The TalentWhen I first started getting serious about making videos and did some research on techniques, I kept on hearing the term 'the talent' - not as an attribute, as in 'so an so' has talent, but as a proper noun, as in 'place the talent there', or 'make sure the talent ...'. At the time it seemed a bit strange to refer to the subject of the film in that way, almost as if no one else had any talent. <br /><br />In my proper job - marketing manager for a major computer company - I work with many very talented people every day, and I'd be disingenuous if I tried to claim that I didn't have a little myself, but ...<br /><br />... over the past few days I've been editing some of the footage I took in this year in Essaouira in order to build some DVDs of the preparation and performances of a couple of the groups, and suddenly it made sense - these people aren't the same as most of you and me. There's something about them that forces you to watch and listen to the same bits of their music over and over till you capture it just right, so that you can portray them in the best light. I stand there while they perform and record them putting their soul into it for our sakes, but I'm like a financial derivative, they are the prime assets.<br /><br />I got to thinking - would people pay to watch me work? Would I entrance then as I put the finishing touches to a marketing plan, of submitted a request to update a web page? I guess you all know the answer.<br /><br />Anyone who buys books, CDs, movies, or goes to concerts knows this to be true - we couldn't write those books, sing and play on those CDs, act in those movies, or whatever. It's only when you get close to musicians and actors, as I've been privileged to recently, that the truth hits home - talent is not just a subjective characteristic, like beauty in the eye of the beholder, it's something innate. It's what makes them different. It's why we pay good money to be in their presence - whether physically or virtually. <br /><br />I could go on, but 'nuff said.DaftNotStupidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243127396108361624noreply@blogger.com0http://daftnotstupid.blogspot.com/2011/10/talent.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7486102015652892166.post-10750441252487630602011-10-02T01:33:00.000+01:002011-10-02T01:33:32.535+01:00Great glass by Ton Verdegaal in AmsterdamOn my last visit to Amsterdam, Maggie bought me a wonderful piece of glass as a birthday present. It was made by Ton Verdegaal, who has a small shop cum studio at Berenstraat 41. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VTu0h2ryjoU/ToewKXcvV1I/AAAAAAAAALE/mIPB8QJgHnk/s1600/P1050868%2BTon%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="400" width="396" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VTu0h2ryjoU/ToewKXcvV1I/AAAAAAAAALE/mIPB8QJgHnk/s400/P1050868%2BTon%2B2.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yMgaHVMaN-Q/ToewXN2ae4I/AAAAAAAAALM/646V2mHCKP8/s1600/P1050874%2BTon%2B2%2Bin%2Broom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="214" width="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yMgaHVMaN-Q/ToewXN2ae4I/AAAAAAAAALM/646V2mHCKP8/s320/P1050874%2BTon%2B2%2Bin%2Broom.jpg" /></a></div><br /><br />I stumbled on his shop by chance, only to realize that I had bought another piece of his the year before. I'll post a photo of that later.<br /><br />You can see more of Ton's work on his web site <a href="http://glassierkunst.nl/">http://glassierkunst.nl/<br /></a>, but if you plan to visit Amsterdam, take the time to drop in, and see it for real.DaftNotStupidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243127396108361624noreply@blogger.com0http://daftnotstupid.blogspot.com/2011/10/great-glass-by-ton-verdegaal-in.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7486102015652892166.post-38932670126885303092011-06-25T04:14:00.003+01:002011-07-04T00:35:49.282+01:00Essaouira 2011 - Maalem Hassan Boussou playing with Jacques Schwarz-Bart's Jazz-Racines HaitiJust experienced what must be the highlight of the Essaouira 2011 festival - Maalem Hassan Boussou playing with Jacques Schwarz-Bart's Jazz-Racines Haiti. Powerful music - haunting at times - with &nbsp;virtuoso performances by Brother Jacques on tenor sax, Etienne Charles on trumpet and Milan Milanovi on piano, driven along by Ari Hoenig's fearsome drumming and Reginald Washington's bass. Add to the mix the Oh yes, and Hassan Boussou, of course, who drummed and strummed and blew and sung the whole set together. Truly a night to remember. Thanks guys.<br /><br />Look out for some videos of this set and the Residence that preceded it on YouTube.com/DaftNotStupid.<br /><br /><strong>Update 29/06/2011</strong><br /><br />I've just got back home from the Essaouira 2011 festival and I've posted a short - 3 minute - extract from the final number of the Maalem Hassan Boussou with Jacques Schwarz Bart's Jazz Racines Haiti set as well as the whole of the second to last number. You'll notice some fur from my dead cat - hope it doesn't spoil the effect too much. The video is available in 720p HD on YouTube and the audio for the longer piece comes from my digital recorder which I'll use whenever possible since the quality is better. <br /><br /><br /><strong>Update 03/06/2011</strong><br /><br /><strong>Kouzin</strong> <a href="http://youtu.be/BkRN1USSYPw">http://youtu.be/BkRN1USSYPw</a><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/BkRN1USSYPw" width="425"></iframe><br /><br /><br /><strong>Hamdouchia</strong> extract <a href="http://youtu.be/EMdE0Q2bR30">http://youtu.be/EMdE0Q2bR30</a><br /><a href="http://www.blogger.com/"></a><span id="goog_1497778452"></span><span id="goog_1497778453"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/EMdE0Q2bR30" width="425"></iframe></span><br /><br /><strong>Foufou Djenba </strong>2nd last number <a href="http://youtu.be/AlmK24pykF0">http://youtu.be/AlmK24pykF0</a><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/AlmK24pykF0" width="425"></iframe>DaftNotStupidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243127396108361624noreply@blogger.com0http://daftnotstupid.blogspot.com/2011/06/essaouira-2011-maalem-hassan-boussou.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7486102015652892166.post-55628156824825969642011-06-12T11:47:00.000+01:002011-06-12T11:47:47.378+01:00Welcome to Dorothy - our new Northern CorrespondentI'd like to welcome <strong>Dorothy</strong> who has joined the&nbsp;DaftNotStupid team as our new Northern Correspondent and who will, I'm sure, provide a different perspective on things. Like Maggie and myself, she has a long-time love of African music and has visited Morocco and Tunisia on many occasions. She&nbsp;will be joining us this year for her first ever Essaouira festival, so look out for posts under her by-line.DaftNotStupidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243127396108361624noreply@blogger.com0http://daftnotstupid.blogspot.com/2011/06/welcome-to-dorothy-our-new-northern.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7486102015652892166.post-45900637470321931182011-04-29T00:56:00.001+01:002011-04-29T01:30:47.611+01:00Bomb at The Argana, Djema El Fna, Marrakech, June 28 2011We see, hear, and read news about terrorist attrocities around the world nearly every day and they always seem so far away from most of our normal reality that we tend to let them wash over us, sad that it is to say that. Yesterday's bomb at Bomb at The Argana restaurant in Marrakech changed all that for me. <br /><br />I'm not usually given to writing about topical or political subjects, but this is personal. I first visited the pink city in 1972 and have been back many times since then. Buses may no longer arrive there and the cars are kept away at night, the once-rough ground may be paved over, and there's more light around the food hawkers tables, but Djema El Fna is still the heart and the pulse of the city, always bustling, exciting, alive. The gnaouistas (you can't call them gnaoui) still play their parodies of the true form, the young boys beat their drums and dance, the water-sellers quench travellers' thirsts, snakes are charmed, and young children sit in a circle listening to an old man telling wonderful stories of times past. That is the true Marrakech and it always has been thus, long before the hippies and then the tourists came. Incidents like today's won't stop the Marrakchis and we mustn't let it stop us tourists and travellers from visiting this beautiful city.<br /><br /><i><b>All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing</b></i>.DaftNotStupidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243127396108361624noreply@blogger.com0http://daftnotstupid.blogspot.com/2011/04/bomb-at-argana-djema-el-fna-marrakech.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7486102015652892166.post-35701296710592834172011-04-25T23:45:00.002+01:002011-08-21T15:19:31.731+01:00The Third Man themeInspired by an idea from Marvin Naylor, here's a playlist of the The Third Man theme. Enjoy!<br /><br /><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/p/5213BCBBB77D02FA?hl=en_GB&amp;fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/p/5213BCBBB77D02FA?hl=en_GB&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="385" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object><br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/likebox.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpages%2FThe-Third-Man-theme-videos%2F188923154487925&amp;width=400&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;show_faces=true&amp;border_color&amp;stream=true&amp;header=true&amp;height=427" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border:none; overflow:hidden; width:400px; height:427px;" allowTransparency="true"></iframe>DaftNotStupidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243127396108361624noreply@blogger.com0http://daftnotstupid.blogspot.com/2011/04/third-man-theme.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7486102015652892166.post-89990453080972115432011-04-21T00:58:00.001+01:002011-10-15T01:16:13.089+01:00Posting HD videos on YouTubeWhen I first started posting videos on YouTube in 2007, they were audio only - I mastered them using Windows Movie Maker as wmv files with a short text header and trailer and typically they were around 10MB. That year, I also uploaded the wav files (about 30MB each) to Fileden and created playlists which could be played from my blog. The audio quality was usually pretty good - I used a little Zoom H4 digital &nbsp;recorder with an AT shotgun mike - and almost all of the bandwidth was tajken up with the audio.<br /><br />In 2008, I got my video camera, and started to record the visuals as well as the audio, but, I still mastered them as wmv and tried to maintain a similar, small file size. While the audio in those files wasn't bad, the video quality wasn't that good. Typically YouTube wasn't able to deliver more than 240p.<br /><br />In 2009, as network upload bandwidth became better and YouTube relaxed their file size limits, I started to render my videos as mp4 files, now using Sony Vegas Movie Studio, and I tried &nbsp;to keep the files at around 100MB. YouTube was now able to deliver these at up to 480p, which I considered a pretty good improvement.<br /><br />Last year, YT upped its limits to 2GB and I moved to a BE broadband connection which had up to 2Mb of upstream bandwidth, so I started to increase the size of the mp4 files to about 800MB for a 10 minute video. Now YouTube could play these in HD at 1080p, but I found that my download speed was no longer good enough, and the videos would stop and start. so I usually played them at 720p or even 480p on a bad day. I also found that I couldn't play them locally any more. VLC would play the first couple of minutes OK, but then would stop showing any video and just play audio. Two steps forward and one step back.<br /><br />Recently, I discovered that I hadn't done anything with my 2010 recording of Maalem Mahmoud Guinea and Daby Toure, so I edited and mastered one of the numbers, and rendered it in Mpeg 2, producing m2t files, at around 1.2GB per 10 minutes of video. Not only would these play well locally with VLC and QuickTime, but YouTube could deliver them pretty reliably in HD at 720p. <br /><br /><b>Update</b>: 15 Oct 2011<br /><br />I've been getting quite a few Google searches ending up on this page, so I thought that I'd add a few details about the setting I use:<br /><br />Software: Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD 10<br />Encoding: MainConcept MPEG2<br />Vegas template: HDV 720-25p - I film in the UK so always work in PAL at 25fps<br />Audio: 384 Kbps, 48,000 Hz, 16 Bit, Stereo, MPEG<br />Video: 25 fps, 1280x720 Progressive, YUV, 18.3 Mbps<br />Pixel Aspect Ratio: 1.000<br />Aspect ratio: 16:9<br /><br />I know I could probably reduce the bit rate, but this works, so I'm loathe to change it.<br /><br />I'd welcome your comments on what works for you.<br /><br />What's interesting is that I've been using the same camera all for all of this - a Panasonic GS-400, which creates a 12GB avi file for each hour of tape. The high quality is inherent in the original, but it's taken me three years to discover the optimum way of delivering the quality on YouTube. I re-rendered and re-posted one of the numbers by the Korean drummers, Samulnori Molgae, but honestly, life is too short to re-render everything that I've recorded and posted over the past three years. Looking back at some of my old stuff, I cringe a little, but people still watch and listen to them. My most popular video - Maalem Hamid El Kasri - is only available in 240p but has had over 40,000 plays and still gets around 50 plays a day, so I figure I shouldn't worry too much.DaftNotStupidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243127396108361624noreply@blogger.com0http://daftnotstupid.blogspot.com/2011/04/posting-hd-videos-on-youtube.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7486102015652892166.post-50165064827841005452011-04-07T23:59:00.001+01:002011-04-11T15:27:25.823+01:00Essaouira 2010 - Daby Toure and Maalem Mahmoud GuineaHere's the music from the set that Daby Toure played with Maalem Mahmoud Guinea the Essaouira Gnaoua and World Music Festival 2010 at Place Bab Marrakech, Friday 25th June 2010. I recorded it last year, but forgot to master it. <br /><br />Watching and listening to the whole set again (and again and again) over the past few days has reminded me just how wonderful these musicians are. Daby Toure led the vocals on their opening number, but there comes a point where Mahmoud just turns the song into a completely different one, one of his Gnaoua standards. You can see the look of surprise and sheer joy on Daby Toure's face as he realizes what's just happened. I've mastered them all now, so here is the&nbsp;YouTube playlist:<br /><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/p/36FF575B5C5C4483?hl=en_GB&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/p/36FF575B5C5C4483?hl=en_GB&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="385" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object><br /><br />Daby and Mahmoud, if you're listening, I hope you like it. The music was great. Thanks!DaftNotStupidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243127396108361624noreply@blogger.com0http://daftnotstupid.blogspot.com/2011/04/essaouira-2010-daby-toure-and-maalem.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7486102015652892166.post-60069623090506884442011-03-19T19:21:00.003+00:002011-10-25T00:45:06.117+01:00Noir: SIT at GO GALLERY, AmsterdamI was privileged to be given a sneak-preview of <strong>noir</strong>, SIT's new exhibition that opens today, March 19 at <a href="http://gogallery.nl/">GO GALLERY</a>,&nbsp;Prinsengracht 64, Amsterdam, and runs until the end of April.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-MAHeFaQkSco/TYX0EBhh4bI/AAAAAAAAAKg/RZvWrXUJNuc/s1600/P1020978+SnakeWoman+mono+custom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" r6="true" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-MAHeFaQkSco/TYX0EBhh4bI/AAAAAAAAAKg/RZvWrXUJNuc/s320/P1020978+SnakeWoman+mono+custom.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: small;">noir #6</span></strong></td></tr></tbody></table><strong>25/10/2011 Update: </strong>I've just received a copy of noir #6 and it looks fabulous. It's printed an really heavy art paper and the ink is soooo black. It's quite big - about 3'x2' - so will need a good space to hang it. I'll get it framed and then post a photo of how it looks in situ. Some prints are still available at <a href="http://www.rooftopamsterdam.nl/">http://www.rooftopamsterdam.nl/</a>, but you need to hurry since some are sold out already.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Unsurprisingly, the work is largely black&nbsp;- and if&nbsp;not as dark as <a href="http://daftnotstupid.blogspot.com/2008/04/sit-at-go-gallery-amsterdam.html">unwired</a> -&nbsp;still pretty uncompromising. noir appears to be about fashion, and the wrath wrought by man on the rest of animalkind in its perfection. The paintings feature beautifuly painted women, animals, and articles of fashion, which, in isolation look totally natural, but the resulting composition is anything but.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-kD7WbjBoS-o/TYX5BQox6bI/AAAAAAAAAKk/bjL6emuceKc/s1600/P1030006+Leopard+mono+custom2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" r6="true" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-kD7WbjBoS-o/TYX5BQox6bI/AAAAAAAAAKk/bjL6emuceKc/s320/P1030006+Leopard+mono+custom2.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">If you're coming to Amsterdam, take some time out and walk down the Prinsengracht to the GO GALLERY, but if you can't make it, visit SIT's new <a href="http://sitnie.com/#724300/NOIR">noir site</a>. Prices range from about €1500 to €3500, though for those of us with smaller budgets will be able to buy a copy of the&nbsp;wonderfully photographed and produced show guide book, which will be available at €35 from GO GALLERY in the near future.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-4GYpm-JyGTk/TYT0R5ReZaI/AAAAAAAAAKU/vlt_fu93ZNs/s1600/P1020989+Aligatorshoes+rotated+mono.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" r6="true" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-4GYpm-JyGTk/TYT0R5ReZaI/AAAAAAAAAKU/vlt_fu93ZNs/s320/P1020989+Aligatorshoes+rotated+mono.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Many thanks to SIT, and to Faroud and Oskar for letting me take some photographs and publish them here. I hope that you think that they do the work justice. I couldn't get the white balance correct, so I developed the raw images in monochrome</div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-V3d-X3wWEYg/TYXuPKjccSI/AAAAAAAAAKc/lNgvgjYGNkU/s1600/P1030004+HatQuote+mono2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" r6="true" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-V3d-X3wWEYg/TYXuPKjccSI/AAAAAAAAAKc/lNgvgjYGNkU/s320/P1030004+HatQuote+mono2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />For more about SIT on this blog, read <a href="http://daftnotstupid.blogspot.com/search/label/SIT">this</a>. See more&nbsp;of&nbsp;SIT's work at <a href="http://sitnie.com/">http://sitnie.com/</a>.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>DaftNotStupidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243127396108361624noreply@blogger.com0http://daftnotstupid.blogspot.com/2011/03/noir-sit-at-go-gallery-amsterdam.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7486102015652892166.post-1242348172885203702011-03-10T23:56:00.003+00:002011-03-20T12:13:35.613+00:00Moon Calendar 2011 at Go Gallery, AmsterdamI subscribe to the Go Gallery's newsletter, and today I received a notification that there will be abother SIT (Freaking Sitnie) exhibition there. "Wow!" I thought. "Maggie and I are going to Amsterdam next week. What perfect timing!" Unfortunately not, however, since we leave on Saturday moring (March 19) and that's when they have the opening. Maybe, if I go there on Friday, they'll give me a sneak preview. I don't think I'll take Maggie, though. SIT is always a bit dark, and this exhibition promises to live up to his reputation, and given that it is called 'noir', you should expect it to me even more so than usual.<br /><br />I still wish I'd bought one of his pieces from his 2009 (?) Unwired exhibition - the one with the pandas. (Strange thing, I just looked at my blog stats, and someone Gooogled 'unwired' earlier today, from Mexico, of all places. )<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-x7qLyKadcD4/TXlkoOhCG1I/AAAAAAAAAKI/tXFTcAQDC5Y/s1600/maankalender2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" q6="true" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-x7qLyKadcD4/TXlkoOhCG1I/AAAAAAAAAKI/tXFTcAQDC5Y/s400/maankalender2011.jpg" width="145" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Anyway, while browsing round the Go Gallery web-site, I was reminded that they sell Moon Calendars, so, in what's become something of a tradition, here's the icon or the 2011 edition. You can buy one for as little as €11.00&nbsp;from Go Gallery at <a href="http://www.gogallery.nl/page.php?lang=nl&amp;category=nieuws&amp;id=3">http://www.gogallery.nl/page.php?lang=nl&amp;category=nieuws&amp;id=3</a>, or contact <br />GO Gallery <br /><br />Prinsengracht 64 <br />1015 DX Amsterdam<br /><br />Tel. 020-4229580 <br />E-mail: office@gogallery.nl <br />Fax 020-4229581DaftNotStupidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243127396108361624noreply@blogger.com0http://daftnotstupid.blogspot.com/2011/03/moon-calendar-2011.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7486102015652892166.post-3131285196583895212010-10-25T18:27:00.000+01:002010-10-25T18:27:24.564+01:00Chez Ben Mostafa, EssaouiraI've just found an email address written on a scrap of paper and realized that it belongs to one of the waiters at <strong>Chez Ben Mostafa </strong>in Essaouira. I took a few photos there just before I left back in June, and though I added them to me Flickr account, I hadn't added them to my blog, nor had I sent them in an email.<br /><br />If you've ever been to Essauouira, you've probably walked past Chez Ben Mostafa, though you may not have stopped there for a drink or a bit to eat. Everyone has their own favourite spot, and that is our's (my wife Maggie and me, that is.) I suppose that's a good job, really - otherwise it would be even harder to get a seat there, than it usually is! Great coffee (cafe casse for me, nous-nous for Maggie) and good food too - breakfast, lunch, and dinner too.<br /><br />Anyway, here are photos of some of the team. If you've been there, I'm sure you'll recognize them.<br /><br /><object height="450" width="600"> <param name="flashvars" value="offsite=true&amp;lang=en-us&amp;page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2F12108286%40N06%2Fsets%2F72157624294289277%2Fshow%2F&amp;page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2F12108286%40N06%2Fsets%2F72157624294289277%2F&amp;set_id=72157624294289277&amp;jump_to="></param><param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649" allowFullScreen="true" flashvars="offsite=true&amp;lang=en-us&amp;page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2F12108286%40N06%2Fsets%2F72157624294289277%2Fshow%2F&amp;page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2F12108286%40N06%2Fsets%2F72157624294289277%2F&amp;set_id=72157624294289277&amp;jump_to=" width="600" height="450"></embed></object>DaftNotStupidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243127396108361624noreply@blogger.com3http://daftnotstupid.blogspot.com/2010/10/chez-ben-mostafa-essaouira.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7486102015652892166.post-77032871094976868792010-09-23T00:22:00.001+01:002010-09-23T00:30:02.121+01:00iPhone near-disaster<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I was on the balcony of a little hotel in northern Italy a couple of weeks ago when the chair I was sitting on collapsed beneath me. About 10 minutes later, while I was recovering - I landed right on my coccyx, so the pain was pretty bad - there was a knock on the door, and one of the hotel staff appeared at the door holding my new iPhone 4 which I'd been using at the time.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">She'd seen it drop through the kitchen window and went down to the street to see what it was. Switching it on, she saw that the login-in panel was in English, so since we were the only English people staying there, she figured it was mine and brought it up to me. I was still pretty shocked from the fall, so I hadn't even realized that it was missing.</div><br /><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">It was totally unscathed - not a scratch, not a dent, screen still intact. I figure that it must have fallen in a horizontal position, and that maybe its fall was broken by first landing on the roof of one of the cars that you can see in the photo</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iaWTt7jIePU/TJqRRm-bgyI/AAAAAAAAAIg/45h9Up0mEaA/s1600/IMG_0046.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" px="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iaWTt7jIePU/TJqRRm-bgyI/AAAAAAAAAIg/45h9Up0mEaA/s320/IMG_0046.JPG" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">This film below is a simulation, shot using my wife's little Lumix, though the still photo was taken using the iPhone from the balcony. And "No", my wife didn't drop the iPhone again, just to see whether it could survive twice - for the simulation we used a cigarette packet stuffed with a Zippo. As the saying goes, "I may be daft, but I'm not stupid." </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">&nbsp; </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4I8ul_Cx2tI?fs=1&amp;hl=en_GB"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4I8ul_Cx2tI?fs=1&amp;hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object></div>DaftNotStupidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243127396108361624noreply@blogger.com0http://daftnotstupid.blogspot.com/2010/09/iphone-near-disaster.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7486102015652892166.post-78781015092726323912010-08-23T18:13:00.000+01:002010-08-23T18:13:32.999+01:00Madness at Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza 2010A couple of weeks ago a bunch of family and friends went to see Madness play the Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza. They were really good. I've never been what you could call a fan, but I've liked their music and their whole performance style since their early days. I took my video camera and recorded about half of their set and posted a couple of videos on YouTube. I had them set to Private until today, when I received the OK from the band's own YT channel - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/MadtubeMTV">MadTubeTV</a>.&nbsp;Thanks CB. (Note to WS - See, I do learn.)<br /><br />I plan to add a couple more, but for now there's <strong>Wings of a Dove</strong> and <strong>It must be Love on this playlist. </strong><br /><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/p/26D727A70BA74750?hl=en_GB&amp;fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/p/26D727A70BA74750?hl=en_GB&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="385" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object><br /><br />Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel kicked off the evening, and while I didn't manage to record them at all, they were a superb accompaniment to our big picnic. Thanks guys.DaftNotStupidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243127396108361624noreply@blogger.com0http://daftnotstupid.blogspot.com/2010/08/madness-at-glastonbury-abbey.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7486102015652892166.post-12993367338018729382010-07-02T16:30:00.018+01:002010-07-18T14:42:58.076+01:00Essaouira Gnaoua and World Music Festival 2010 - Report, Videos, Photographs<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I've just come back from the Essaouira Gnaoua and World Music Festival 2010 where Maggie and I had a really great time, listened to lots of good music and made lots of new friends.This year, we were given press accreditation, with what I came to realise were precious Camera badges, that allowed us privileged access right in front of the stages. I shot loads of what I hope will turn out to be great video, though your opinion on that is more important than mine. I lost control of the sound quality some of the time, in the heat of getting better pictures, but I think I've found a way around that, if we get to go again and get the badges again. But enough of that.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The festival opened as usual with a parade of Gnaoui, but this year that was supplemented by a number of&nbsp;troops of Fantasia riders on horseback, led by their Masters, all carrying ancient-looking rifles. 75 horsemen in a circle, hoeses all calm and controlled but frisky with it. Troops approach one another and pull back. The lead Master starts to speak - addressing all of the troops. Then Bang! All 75 rifles fire at one. Wow - took me by surprise.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iaWTt7jIePU/TCvfzxTeegI/AAAAAAAAAII/2hTi-uXwfnQ/s1600/IMGA0389.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" ru="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iaWTt7jIePU/TCvfzxTeegI/AAAAAAAAAII/2hTi-uXwfnQ/s320/IMGA0389.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><div align="left" class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">First up in Place Moulay Hassan after the open speeches were the two Maalem brothers Kouyou - Mohamed and Said, joined after a few gnaoua numbers by the Sukishvili Georgian National Ballet, who were not at all what I had expected. My only past experince of Georgian National Ballet had been tall and statuesqe women in long white gowns who appeared to float across the stage. Take a look at the video when I post it and you'll see how wrong I was.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Videos</span></strong></span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here's a YouTube playlist that I'm starting to build. There'll be more music appearing in the coming days, weeks, and (knowing me) months:</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><object width="600"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/p/0F179EBED8405C5B&amp;hl=en_GB&amp;fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/p/0F179EBED8405C5B&amp;hl=en_GB&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="385" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This post is work in progress - be sure to check back soon for some new material. </span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">I've managed to crack the problem of posting videos on YouTube in HD this year. I'm using the same camera as before (Panasonic GS400) which records in pretty good quality though not native HD. The secret appears to be to render the clips with a large frame size (1440x1080) and using an AVCHD codec, though this does generate very large files, about 1.0 GB for a 10 minute clip. The resulting quality on YouTube is however really good, and I might re-render and re-post some of my previous years' movies if I ever get the time.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;"><strong>Interview with Hassan Boussou</strong></span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">This year, I was given the opportunity to request interviews with some of the performers. I asked to speak with Maalem Hassan Boussou, since I really love his music, and was lucky to be able to talk with him for 10 minutes or so&nbsp;at the Sofitel Hotel one afternoon. To be honest, at first I found the experience a little overwhelming, but once we got started, it seemd to work quite well. I recorded the interview, which I've added to my YouTube playlist, but I've also included it separately below.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">I asked about the importance of fusion to his music and learned that what is most important is the traditional Gnaoua, but that he has mainly started to play fusion since he started living in France where he meets and works with a wider variety of musicians. He would like to see Gnaoua become more recognised internationally and considers it part of his responsibility to help&nbsp;to achieve that. When he plays, he considers the audience to be very important, "a plant must have water if it is to grow" was how he explained that to me. I asked a rather complicated question about the frequent and complex time changes and what I called the 'musical punctuation' that seems to divide up some of his longer pieces, and he explained that such changes of tempo were key to the Boussou school of Gnaoua, developed by his late father, the great Maalem H'mida Boussou. The interview video runs to&nbsp;a little over 10 minutes, and if you speak French you'll get a lot more out of it than if you just speak English. Many thanks to Ibtissam Alaoui, from the festival press office, for translating my questions and Hassan's replies from and to&nbsp;English.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_nWCPuwubF8&amp;hl=en_GB&amp;fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_nWCPuwubF8&amp;hl=en_GB&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong>Photographs</strong></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here's a slideshow of some of the photographs that I took that I have loaded up to Flickr. I took these with my camcorder, which lets me take still photos while I'm recording a video. </span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><object height="375" width="500"> <param name="flashvars" value="offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2F12108286%40N06%2Fsets%2F72157624418493630%2Fshow%2F&page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2F12108286%40N06%2Fsets%2F72157624418493630%2F&set_id=72157624418493630&jump_to="></param><param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649" allowFullScreen="true" flashvars="offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2F12108286%40N06%2Fsets%2F72157624418493630%2Fshow%2F&page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2F12108286%40N06%2Fsets%2F72157624418493630%2F&set_id=72157624418493630&jump_to=" width="500" height="375"></embed></object><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Vince Millett</strong></span> <br /><br /><a href="http://secretarchivesofthevatican.wordpress.com/">Vince Millet</a> added a comment with links to some great photographs that he took. Just follow the links to these six Flikr slides-shows to get a great sense of the everyday excitement of the Essaouira festival. Thanks for these, Vince.<br /><strong>Opening Parade: </strong><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/brokendrumphotography/sets/72157624411100934/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/brokendrumphotography/sets/72157624411100934/</a><br /><br /><strong>Maâlem Mustapha Bakbou: </strong><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/brokendrumphotography/sets/72157624284357785/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/brokendrumphotography/sets/72157624284357785/</a><br /><br /><strong>Dhafer Youssef: </strong><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/brokendrumphotography/sets/72157624283906685/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/brokendrumphotography/sets/72157624283906685/</a><br /><br /><strong>Maâlem Saïd Ouressan:</strong><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/brokendrumphotography/sets/72157624407655628/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/brokendrumphotography/sets/72157624407655628/</a><br /><br /><strong>Speed Caravan:</strong><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/brokendrumphotography/sets/72157624407510136/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/brokendrumphotography/sets/72157624407510136/</a><br /><br /><strong>Around the festival: </strong><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/brokendrumphotography/sets/72157624286342899/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/brokendrumphotography/sets/72157624286342899/</a><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong>Audio</strong></span></div><br />I was able to record a couple of Audio-only sessions from our balcony at Bab Marrakech while I was over at Moulay Hassan with the video camera. Here's the first of them, featuring Maalem Aziz Bakbou with some member of the Armenian Navy Band (among others):<br /><br /><br />This isn't working, and I'm not sure why. I'll try to sort it out.<br /><br /><br /><embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="&amp;displayheight=50&amp;file=http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/8/18/1357895/Essaouira%202010/Maalem%20Aziz%20Bakbou%20with%20Armenian%20Navy%20Band.xml&amp;height=400&amp;width=320&amp;frontcolor=0x660000&amp;backcolor=0x66B5FF&amp;lightcolor=0xee5e3d&amp;screencolor=0x66B5FF&amp;autoscroll=true&amp;showdownload=true&amp;showeq=true&amp;thumbsinplaylist=true&amp;repeat=list&amp;showdigits=true&amp;shuffle=false" height="345" src="http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/8/18/1357895/mp3player/mp3player.swf" style="height: 345px; width: 320px;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash swf" width="320"><br /><br /><a href="http://maggieknutson.com/"><strong>MaggieKnutson.com</strong></a><br /><br />My wife Maggie has also wrtten extensively about the festival, and you can read what she says and see her own photographs on her blog here <a href="http://maggieknutson.blogspot.com/2010/07/wonder-and-beauty-of-gnaoua-and-world.html">http://maggieknutson.blogspot.com/2010/07/wonder-and-beauty-of-gnaoua-and-world.html</a>.<br /></embed>DaftNotStupidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243127396108361624noreply@blogger.com1http://daftnotstupid.blogspot.com/2010/07/essaouira-gnaoua-and-world-music.html